‘Wonderful’ composting
Officials from the District Waste Management Unit of Eden District Municipality (EDM) gave worm farms and Green Genies to residents of the Gouritzmond area near Mossel Bay on 20 March.
Green Genies are home composting bins.
This activity followed the launch of the first Home Composting Pilot Project in the Eden District on Monday, 5 February in collaboration with Hessequa Municipality.
The pilot project can also accommodate 30 Mossel Bay residents. To be considered, contact Wayne Odendaal (044 693 0006 or wayne@edendm.gov.za).
The project was approved by the EDM Council as a pilot project after characterisation studies compiled of waste being transported from households and businesses to landfill sites in the Eden District Municipal areas, revealed that vast volumes of organic waste are being disposed of at landfill sites in the district.
Approximately 30% of household waste contains organic waste that ends up in the landfill sites. Most of the landfill sites in the Eden district are already closed and the remaining sites are currently reaching their limit. The idea is to keep organic waste out of landfills, which will prevent the generation of detrimental landfill gases - and this is where the Home Composting Project has an important role to play.
When the officials, Morton Hubbe, EDM’s District Waste Manager and Johan Gie, EDM Waste Management Officer, handed over the worm farms to the participants, they explained to them what items the worms can and cannot consume.
“Most of the foods consumed by these worms, are items that would initially have ended up at the landfill site. After the foods are consumed, the worm castings and worm tea can then be used as fertiliser for houseand pot plants and in the vegetable gardens,” Hubbe said. The methods and techniques on how to care for these worms, were also shared with the participants.
All these instructions are in a file, which is handed over to the participants, after which the participant signs and acknowledge temporary ownership of the Green Genie and worm farm for a period of one year. After a year the participant will become the official owner of both the Green Genie and worm Farm.
During the year, it is required from the participant to report to the Eden District and Hessequa Municipal Waste Management officers on a monthly basis, which will allow officials to monitor the progress of the project and capture the relevant data.
The reporting and capturing of the data of organic waste that was diverted from landfills must be done in an accurate manner that will be presented to the municipal council. EDM's Councillor Theresia van Rensburg and the administrative assistant of the EDM Office in Mossel Bay, Wayne Odendaal, were also present during the handover. Van Rensburg said: “It is a wonderful project, especially in knowing what impact it will have on the environment. It is important that we create awareness of what difference bio-waste can make in order to care for our environment.”
It is envisaged that the next pilot project will be implemented in the Mossel Bay municipal area.
The objective of the pilot projects is to make councils aware of the positive impacts of home composting on waste diversion figures and the environment in order to motivate the rollout of the project to the rest of the households in the municipal areas.
For more information about waste management initiatives in die Eden district, visit http://wastemanagement.edendm.co.za/
The idea is to keep organic waste out of landfills, which will prevent the generation of detrimental landfill gases.